There is an exponentially growing list of online course providers available today. Whilst on our trips, you are free to take any course you like, or indeed any other project that you think fits with what an Edumadic program offers, provided you can do so entirely online.

Before diving into some of the course providers we're aware of, I want to give a special mention to Class Central and Mooc List. Although these aren't course providers themselves, they act as somewhat of a search engine for online courses. If you've got a subject in mind that you want to study but aren't sure where there's an online course for it, these two websites are a great place to start looking.

Below we outline some of the courses and specific providers, although we encourage everyone to evaluate the market of providers thoroughly and find a course that best suits their objectives.

Free Courses

A free online course has obvious appeal. There is no cost to the student other than their time. The one important consideration you must take with these is that most usually have limited or no interaction between students and instructors, although some do provide forums where questions can be discussed and answered by other students.

This website provides a plethora of courses from many of the top universities in the world. You can register for classes offered by Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, and a whole host of other prestigious schools. These courses are as close as you’ll come to attending university, with structured class time and verified certificates on completion.

Similar to EdX, but with a wider array of courses available, and slightly more flexible. Coursera courses start and finish at a defined time and usually last between 10 and 14 weeks. They have a premium option where you are given an official certification upon completion of the course.

Here you can find a wide array of the MIT courses that are taken by some of the brightest young minds of the world. All course material is downloadable online, and the lectures are available on demand, which means they can be consumed whenever and at whatever pace you’d like.

Code Academy is an online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in 10 different programming languages including Python, Java, PHP, Javascript, Ruby, and SQL, as well as markup languages HTML and CSS.

Free Code Camp has grown exponentially over that last couple of years. It covers all aspects of web development, in a comprehensive syllabus, laid out on a clear road map. All learning is self paced, and is geared towards “campers” becoming job ready as Junior Web Developers upon, or often times long before, the completion of the material. There is also a very strong community built around it, with many study groups being set up in different countries around the world that meet on a regular basis.

Paid Courses

The creators of paid online courses usually have a much greater commitment to the success of their students, as they live and die by reviews. This usually means they are more receptive to questions and give greater support to individuals enrolled. We’ve also found that when paying for a course you’re much more likely to see it through to the end and work through the “Dip” of learning a new skill.

Treehouse is fast becoming one of the most trusted tech education platforms on the web. Treehouse is the online coding school that provides tech skills to everyone, creating opportunities for students to get a career in technology. Students learn real-world skills like how to build websites and create iPhone, Android, and web apps. The Treehouse learning platform is top-rated and includes 1,000+ videos, quizzes and code challenges created by in-house, expert teachers, so students gain up to date training in the most popular tech topics.

Udemy is essentially a marketplace for online learning. It provides a platform for experts of any kind, in any field, to create courses for free or as is most often the case, a small tuition fee. It currently offers more than 40,000 courses. Big discounts on tuition fees are regularly offered so it’s worth keeping this in mind when buying a course.

Lynda provides thousands of video courses in software, creative and business skills. All instructors on the courses are employed by the company itself to produce the educational material. A small membership fee is collected on a monthly basis which allows access to all 4,637 courses on their site. They also provide corporate, university, and government memberships, which means access to their content could be free, so it’s worth checking whether your local Library, University or employer already has an account.

Udacity also provides their material on a subscription basis. Their focus is on a handful of vocational courses which they’ve created in partnership with some of the foremost companies in the world such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. With this close collaboration with industry they intend to provide courses that teach real world skills and produce students that are employable upon graduation from their programs.